Having played many runs through The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, certain characters feel as though they have a stronger and more interesting starting loadout than others. For the sake of variety, I wanted to make a few balance tweaks to hopefully make all characters equally fun to play. My goal was to be able to hit "random" on the character select and like any result, without fundamentally changing the play style of the character.

Characters:

Isaac - The D6 gives Isaac a ton of potential from the start to tailor a run. Isaac gains a Hanged Man card to potentially grab an out of reach item or to pick up some consumables to further shape a run.

Magdalene - Magdalene is a slow, tanky character. Unfortunately, using that ability to absorb damage in battle often backfires by preventing Devil/Angel rooms. Magdalene will now start with the Goat Head to let her tank hits without losing out on those important opportunities. She also gets Infestation to let her leverage some of that health into a little extra damage if she chooses. Lastly, she starts with the Rosary Bead, to help pursue Angel rooms if you choose to fully play into the tanky aspects of the character.

Cain - Cain is a decent all-around character, but does not stand out as much in Rebirth due to the changes to Luck Foot. So, Cain gets Tough Love, letting him take advantage of his high luck to get more damage, and the higher his luck goes, the better it gets.

Judas - With his high damage multiplier and guaranteed Devil/Angel rooms, Judas already has a great loadout if he can survive early on. Judas will now begin with both Key Pieces, allowing him to always access the giant door in the Chest or Dark Room, if he so chooses. He also starts with a Hermit card, which can let him make use of his money, or potentially teleport out of a dangerous situation once, in an emergency.

??? - Blue Baby is a very interesting character with his health mechanics, and gains a significant benefits from the Polaroid or Negative when he gets them. In the mod, he starts with Spoon Bender, which can help him save a little of his precious early HP, and has a lot of potential synergy later. He also begins with the Fish Head trinket, for a little fly generation early on.

Eve - Eve can be an odd character to use, due to the effects of Whore of Babylon, and her low damage multiplier without it. She now starts with an IV Bag to help her keep the high damage from Whore of Babylon. She gains Eve's Bird Foot as well, to let her use her bird familiar a little more often.

Samson - His Bloody Lust can make Samson very powerful. Now, he starts with Kamikaze to give him a more productive way to take damage early on, and gain a little utility in the process.

Azazel - Azazel starts out very strong due to high damage and flight, but a little precariously as well due to short range and only black hearts for health. To make his starting loadout a little bit more risky, he starts with 2 black hearts rather than 3. As he tends to be able to go very quickly through the game, he'll also start with Book of Secrets to speed things up a little further if desired.

Lazarus - The unique resurrection mechanic gives Lazarus some interesting options, with a lot of potential strategic use. He's a good character for strategic, long-term thinking. He gains the Black Candle, letting him plan ahead without having to worry about troublesome curses as he goes.

Eden - Due to Eden's unique function, no changes were made to this character.

The Lost - With The Lost, I wanted to preserve the unique challenge presented, due to not being able to get hit. However, to keep Lost runs from mostly ending in a quick loss, the character now starts with Judas' Shadow, granting a way to continue the run as another character instead. So, winning as The Lost is still a huge challenge, but there's another strong option if that doesn't happen. In addition, The Lost starts with There's Options, significantly reducing the odds of getting nothing useful from a boss fight. The Lost also gets the Butter Bean as a starting item, which might occasionally give enough space to escape an otherwise deadly encounter.

We now have a store with modding-related and Antibirth shirts, with designs by the amazing Elko! The price may be going up a little soon, so if you wanted to get them at the lowest price they will be, now is the time. Special thanks to DragonoidSlayer for helping get this set up!